


homeland

by junkdoll



Category: The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: Bonfires, Childhood Friends, Denial of Feelings, Eventual Happy Ending, Kissing, Light Angst, M/M, Strangers to Lovers, Summer, friends to stranger to lovers, jichang for the most, mentions of the other members, no hyunjoon or eric doe, sunwoo youngest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:53:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24754273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junkdoll/pseuds/junkdoll
Summary: everyone knows sunwoo left them for a year with a little to no warning.everyone knows sunwoo was best friends with juyeon.everyone knows juyeon was hurt the most.
Relationships: Lee Juyeon/Kim Sunwoo
Comments: 4
Kudos: 62





	homeland

**Author's Note:**

> i guess i made a really risky thing while writing this, since there was no other works for juyeon and sunwoo, but here we go ig!!

everyone knows juyeon was hurt the most.

the fans in sunwoo's room were blowing on max, but it didn't stop him from sweating the shit out of his body. the room was mostly empty, but still familiar. most of his stuff were in different cartoon boxes, only the biggest pieces of furniture on place, as well as his old posters and pictures on the wall.

it was quiet. only the humming of the fans, and the sound of cars driving past his house could be heard. or so he thought, until a loud thud and a small scream echoed from downstairs. sunwoo quickly stood up, and hurried to see. it was the most adrenaline he had gotten that day.

he found his mother and little sister from the kitchen, now laughing. 

"is everything okay?" sunwoo said, his voice quiet as ever. there was a plastic bowl lying on the floor. he stared at it way too long for it to be normal.

"yes, sorry if we startled you. your sister here just likes to play pranks." sunwoo heard his mother say, as well as he heard her little sister giggle. 

sunwoo gave them a nod, and a really low-key smile. 

sunwoo's mother played around with her daughter for a while as sunwoo just stood there. soon enough there were gentle hands wrapping around him.

"i know it's hard being back in here, but please, try. we all are trying." his mother whispered in his ear. sunwoo hated how he couldn't enjoy being back in busan as the rest of his family did. 

he was only gone for a year, but a lot had changed.

"try to meet your friends, i'm sure they miss you." the woman smiled as he let go of sunwoo. "juyeon probably wants to see you as soon as possible." 

just by mentioning his name sunwoo's mother had triggered sunwoo's flight mode. he needed to get out of the house before his mother would continue. 

"i'll go get ice cream." he announced as an excuse, and left the house.

the old grocery store down the street was still up. there had been mentions of it being pulled down before sunwoo left, but they must have been false, for what it seems. 

sunwoo stepped in, the small store was also full of fans trying desperately make the air cooler. sunwoo wasn't going to buy the ice cream he had told he was going to get, but his mind had changed as the hot weather had exhausted him.

the ice cream container was still in the same place as it was a year ago. 

it didn't take him long to choose, he had always liked the sandwich looking ice creams. everyone who knew sunwoo knew that.

as sunwoo started to make his way to the cashier, he pulled up some coins from the pocket of his shorts. 

"you still eat those?" a voice said. it was too familiar for sunwoo to not recognize. all he wanted to do was drop the ice cream and run. 

instead of that, the decided to act like the adult he was now. 

sunwoo's gaze met juyeon's eyes. the boy had changed a bit. not much, his hair was a deep shade of blue now, compared to the blondeish brown he had before sunwoo left. he had also grown a bit more manlier than sunwoo had, but that was expected since juyeon is 20 now, compared to sunwoo who had turned 19. 

sunwoo's eyes quickly shifted from juyeon to the ice cream he was holding.

"oh. uh, yeah, i guess?" he murmured, clearly not knowing how to react in this situation. he had no idea juyeon was working there.

sunwoo heard the door swing open. whoever came in was about to shout juyeon's name but stopped, and as the curious soul he is, sunwoo just _had_ to look up and see.

he wasn't sure if it was for his delight or horror, but he saw a familiar, a bit skinnier boy with brown hair. 

"wait, for real? are my eyes betraying me right now? is that the one and only kim sunwoo i see?" the boys eyes grew bigger and bigger during his way too extra speech.

an awkward smile creeped up on sunwoo's face, and without no choice, he closed the other one into a hug after the boy had literally jumped on him. 

"hi, changmin-hyung. long time no see?" sunwoo smiled as changmin swayed himself and sunwoo while they were hugging. 

as changmin let go, sunwoo already had to swipe some sweat. the summers in busan were no joke. 

"i didn't know you were back." changmin said, clearly excited. sunwoo just nodded.

"i was just stopping by to tell juyeon we are having a bonfire night with the iconic lineup of ours, but since you're back you should totally come. it's not the same without you." changmin was gushing. 

sunwoo didn't know how to react. he was too afraid of it being weird. he loved his tight group of friends, but the way he had just left them made him feel sick in his stomach.

"i'm not sure if i can make it. gotta unpack and stuff, you know?" sunwoo said apologetically. 

he could see how changmin's face lost the excitement he had had. 

"yeah, of course." chagmin nodded. "well, it's our usual spot at 8pm if you get ready early." the boy smiled before waving goodbyes to both of them and leaving. 

an oppressing atmosphere landed in the store.

sunwoo walked closer to juyeon and placed the ice cream on the table, waiting for juyeon to read the bar code. 

"that's 2000₩" juyeon said, quietly, careful not to make it obvious that he was looking at sunwoo. 

sunwoo offered him two coins and a one bill and as juyeon was taking the money, he tangled their fingers a bit. 

sunwoo was sure that if he looked up now, he would be staring right at juyeon's eyes. for his own good, he was smart to not to.

"please come tonight. we all miss you." juyeon whispered, before letting sunwoo's fingers go. 

sunwoo spared a quick glance to juyeon before rushing out from the store. 

sunwoo felt so sick. 

he hadn't prepared himself for meeting juyeon. 

at least not like that.

it felt hard to breathe.

sunwoo wasn't ready.

the time was now something 7pm-ish.

sunwoo wasn't sure. he had spent the whole time drying up in his room, panicking about juyeon and his other friends.

a big part of sunwoo's brain told him not to go, that he wasn't ready.

it made so much sense to him, though. 

he had been gone for a year. he had ignored every single message and call from his friends.

he had eventually blocked them everywhere.

sunwoo knows that juyeon even reached out to his mother, just to hear that sunwoo is alive.

the guilt of leaving them all behind like that was eating him from the inside. 

still, something inside him told him to go.

he had felt the radiating energy juyeon had when their fingers had touched.

juyeon felt desperate to be with sunwoo again, and in all honesty, _so did sunwoo._

after a while, he made the decision to change his clothes and just fix his appearance altogether. 

sunwoo changed his white tshirt to a black one, and chose to trust for the weather to cool down so he could wear his black pants without them becoming wet with sweat. 

his orange-ish brown hair is already in such a fucked up condition that curling it a bit doesn't take long. 

sunwoo liked his hair fluffy, and knew that someone else did as well.

to spice things up, he wore some jewelry on his neck and fingers. 

he was basically ready to go. he just needed to take one, extra long and deep breath. 

_he was now ready to go._

sunwoo could smell the ocean as well as see it.

he wasn't far at all, he could even make out the bonfire and all his friends surrounding it.

sunwoo pushed his fists into his pockets, wanting to feel safe when meeting them.

jacob was the first one to see sunwoo.

the blonde boy got up so fast that it let everyone else confused.

soon sunwoo was being pulled to a tight hug by his hyung. 

"dear god i missed you." jacob whispers, and sunwoo can feel his hair being rubbed with a hand. 

as sunwoo opens his eyes he didn't even know he closed, there was a group of boys, all waiting for their turn with the youngest.

after sunwoo gave dozens of hugs, he could feel more comfortable.

his hyungs didn't hate him, he didn't need to feel worried.

that was until juyeon sat next to him. 

he wasn't obnoxiously close, but he wasn't that far either. 

it made sunwoo's stomach flip and twist like a bitch. 

"so you were in the uk, right? do you know english now?" kevin started the conversation.

some of the others just laughed a bit, sunwoo could hear someone talking about their baby growing up and picking new languages.

"not really, i guess. just enough to survive there." sunwoo tried to laugh it off, but he constantly felt juyeon's eyes on him.

"tell us something about what it was like."

"i don't know. different than here? i made friends with few other korean kids so i wasn't alone all the time. school was harsh." sunwoo sighed. he didn't like the fact that his hyungs were so interested, but could he blame them? _no._

"i see you dyed your hair. it was dark brown when i last saw you." sangyeon spoke up, and the others hummed in agreement.

"i guess i wanted to be like the cool kids?" sunwoo tried to joke.

gladly for sunwoo's nerves, the group started talking about other stuff, and he wasn't the main topic anymore. 

sunwoo loved his 9 hyungs alot. they basically adopted him when juyeon started high school and became friends with them.

they had been his safeplace ever since that. 

even though they were all a year or few older than him, their vibes totally matched.

"you look great."

bam. sunwoo's peaceful thoughts were interrupted. 

sunwoo turned his head to face juyeon. 

"thanks. you're not bad yourself." sunwoo hummed, feeling awkward. "blue suits you." 

juyeon nodded quietly. 

"why didn't you answer my texts or calls?"

there it was. the question sunwoo didn't want to hear. 

he didn't know. sunwoo didn't _have_ a reason.

"i was busy." was the only excuse sunwoo could make up.

he felt a hand on top of his own. 

"i thought we were best friends." juyeon said, voice hanging quiet. he probably didn't want the others to hear their conversation. 

neither did sunwoo.

"i don't want to talk about it in here." he simply said. 

"well come on then." juyeon said, giving sunwoo no time to actually register it before being pulled away from the bonfire, closer to the shoreline. 

sunwoo quickly saw the other hyungs look after the two, but turning away to mind their own business. 

juyeon stopped to where it was still safe to stand without your shoes getting wet. 

he pulled sunwoo to face him.

sunwoo felt small, just like he was. he was noticeably shorter than juyeon. 

"look, i'd get it if you had to move away for a whole year for a reason that you don't want to share, but i really don't understand how you could shut out everyone who cares about you. you know how the others love you just like i do." juyeon explained, holding sunwoo's wrists in his bigger hands. 

"you were my best friend of ten years, and now that i look at you, i can't even recognize who you are. something changed while you were gone."

tears were stinging and burning sunwoo's eyes. he didn't want to cry over a conversation he didn't want to have in the first place.

"were you going to talk to us after coming back?" juyeon asked.

"yeah, of course. i just didn't realize that-"

"that you would actually have to clear up things? you didn't realize that you can't just suddenly go back to normal as if you hadn't disappeared for a year? is that right?"

sunwoo knew that if he now opened his mouth he would cry.

he ended up just nodding.

juyeon sighed.

"you know i love y-"

"i need to go, i'm sorry i just really need to." sunwoo interrupted and yanked his wrists out of juyeon's hold.

before the tall man could say anything, sunwoo started to walk out from the beach. he had quickly explained some bullshit to his other hyungs before disappearing into the night.

sunwoo tried to wipe away his now flooding tears. he was crying.

he tried to quiet down his desperate cries with his hands while trailing back to home.

he should've never left to the beach. 

sunwoo wished he would have been there for a longer time.

just enough for his parents and his sister to be asleep, but it wasn't that late yet.

he would have to come up with a shitty excuse to not talk to his family. 

sunwoo _didn't_ have a plan.

he opened the front door and stepped inside. 

his black and white vans shoes flew across the hall as he tried to get rid of them without untying the laces. 

quickly after that he basically flew across the building to get to the stairs. 

"you came home already?" his mother shouted.

"yeah, i was getting too tired. it has been a long day." he shouted back, trying to tame his broken voice, and his mother left it there.

sunwoo succeeded.

he waddled to his room and closed the door. 

finally a moment to breathe. 

sunwoo sat down on his bed. the moon was illuminating the dark room from a big window. 

he had been sitting like that for so long that even the moon had gotten brighter.

the moon got suddenly covered up, tough.

sunwoo didnät register it right away.

the moon got covered up?

and yes, it got covered up by juyeon's figure, who was now climbing inside from the said window. 

it took sunwoo everything to not to scream. he jumped, and covered his mouth by his hands.

"jesus fucking christ there's a door!!" sunwoo whisper-shouted at him, relaxing a bit.

"i wasn't sure if your family was already sleeping." juyeon shrugged. "i'm sorry that i pushed you so much back in the beach."

sunwoo rolled his eyes a bit and turned to look anywhere but at juyeon. 

"can we please talk about it?" the older asked, and sat on to the bed, next to sunwoo.

"yeah." sunwoo whispered.

it was silent for a moment. neither of them knew how to start a conversation like that without it getting too heated.

"why didn't you contact me? or any of us?"

"i was going to, i swear." sunwoo sighed. "but i don't know. the first weeks in london were so hectic i didn't even have time to check my phone." he explained, inspecting his fingers as if they were the most interesting thing he had ever seen.

"then i started to realize things about home and the people here." sunwoo took a deep breath. "about _you_."

juyeon's brows rose as confusion spread over his face.

"this sounds so fucking cheesy and cliche i hate it." sunwoo laughed for a while. "you are my best friend and i have always loved you. like, _always_. and nothing ever changed it. not even the year i was gone." 

it was quiet again. sunwoo's lips were trembling, he clearly wanted to say something. 

juyeon rested his hand´on sunwoo's thigh to reassure him.

"i mean, that's a lie. it did change." sunwoo scratched his neck.

"i realized that i loved you more than i thought. more than just as a best friend, okay. it was like i couldn't stop thinking about how i was gonna come back home and like, i don't know, run back to you and kiss you or something?" sunwoo was now blushing.

he was never the type of person to talk about his feelings. juyeon was the only one he committed them to, but there were still many bits and pieces he left out.

"i didn't know how would you react to such a thing so it felt like an easy way to just shut every one of you out. it wasn't easy though. i became more depressed as the time went by, but i wasn't going to stop. when i finally got over the worst pain, we came back here, busan. and then i saw you in the grocery store and all that shit. it's fucking hard okay? i did all of this to possibly make myself forget or get over the crush i have on you." 

the words came out like a bomb. sunwoo just blew up. he was stressed, juyeon could sense it when sunwoo's talking became faster and faster by every word he was saying.

" _have_?" juyeon whispered.

"what?" sunwoo turned to look back at him.

"the crush you have? not _had?_ "

sunwoo buried his head to his hands. it had slipped right from his mouth. 

"fuck. yea. have." he sighed.

sunwoo didn't know how, but he _heard_ how juyeon was smiling like a big idiot.

soon enough sunwoo felt a tap on his shoulder. it made him look up again.

and that's when _juyeon_ kissed him.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! its my first oneshot and i guess the first story with this ship in the whole ao3,, crazy, but cool i guess. anyway follow me on twitter: @SUNWOPIA if you want! im always up for making new friends and interacting with others.  
> yet again, thank you very much for reading!


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